The Romantic Road by car

Driving the Romantischestrasse through Southern Germany

Any good map will help drivers easily connect the dots between the towns mentioned here, and the classic route is fairly straightforward: just follow the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) signs.

Although officially the route runs from Würzburg to Füssen, Würzburg is a (relative) speck of a place; the real gateway to the northern end of the Romantic Road is Frankfurt-am-Main.

For this reason, I recommend starting this trip in Frankfurt, and taking the drive before arriving in Munich. From Frankfurt, you can zip to Würzburg on the Autobahn.

(You can always drive it the other way, of course, but most folks seem to do north-to-south.)

Füssen, the southern end of the Romantic Road, is even tinier, so many people skip the last part of the trip and end their Romantic Road odyssey at Munich.

The Romantic Road in one day

To take the one-day trip from Frankfurt to Munich, hit just the main towns and do it very quickly.

Abandon the Romantishe Strasse at Augsburg for the highway east to Munich and let your Munich hotel know you'll be arriving late.

The Romantic Road in two days

At a more leisurely pace, take two days to tour the whole road, spending the night in Rothenburg ob der Tauber or perhaps Dinkelsbühl.

Another good plan is to drive all the way to Füssen (much easier in two days, but doable in one) and spend the night there. The next morning, visit Nueschwanstein castle. You can then either return the car in Füssen and take the train to Munich or drive the car to Munich to drop it off.

Tips

• Book a tour: Perhaps the easiest way to tour the Romantic Road if you don't have a car (and don't want to be stuck on the bus's schedule) is to let others take care of the logistics and transportation—and provide you with a tour guide—on a guided tour side trip from Munich. You can book these at a discount via our partners Viator.com:
  
         Day tours
  
  
  • Romantic Road, Rothenburg and Harburg Day Tour from Munich
  • Guided Rothenburg Day Trip from Frankfurt
  • Full Day Tour to Rothenburg from Frankfurt 
    
    From Munich to Frankfurt
• 2 day overnight Munich to Frankfurt - Romantic Road, Rothenburg
• 3 day Munich to Frankfurt Tour - Romantic Road, Rothenburg, Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein
• 3 day Munich to Frankfurt - Romantic Road, Heidelberg, Rothenburg
• 4 day Munich to Frankfurt - Romantic Road, Linderhof, Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein
  
  From Frankfurt to Munich
• 2 day overnight Frankfurt to Munich - Romantic Road, Rothenburg
• 3 day Frankfurt to Munich - Romantic Road, Rothenburg, Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein
• 3 day Frankfurt to Munich - Romantic Road, Heidelberg, Rothenburg
• 4 day Frankfurt to Munich - Romantic Road, Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein